Dental cleaner



Flc-3.2. F|G-2 INVENTOR John Stuart Fleming United States Patent O 3,141,466 DENTAL CLEANER .lohn Stuart Fleming, Niagara Falls, NX., assigner to Floxite Company, Inc., Niagara Falls, N.Y., a corporation of New York Filed Mar. 7, 1961, Ser. No. 93,950 2 Claims. (Cl. 132-93) The invention relates to dental cleaners for removing food particles from between adjacent teeth, this application relating to a device similar to that disclosed in the Fleming patents for Dental Cleaners of which No. 2,856,939 is an example.

An object of the invention is to provide a dental cleaner consisting of a strip of thin flexible sized wet strength paper having a thin supercial wax coating upon both sides thereof, with a soft bordering cushioned brush edge, the iibers of which tend to become bent laterally so that the brush edge is of greater thickness than that of the body of the paper, as distinguished from the soft cushioned edge disclosed in said patent, the marginal portion of the strip having a series of notches extending below the brush edge into the body of the paper, Said notches having each angularly related edge tending to abut against the roots of said fibers and bend said fibers to upright position, thereby facilitating the insertion of the brush edge between adjacent teeth and against the gums.

Another object is to provide such a dental cleaner, in which said wax coating is lacking upon both sides of said brush edge.

Another object is to provide such a dental cleaner in which said marginal notches are close together The invention consists in the novel construction and combinations of parts hereinafter set forth in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings:

FIGURE 1 is a side view of the invention;

FIGURE 1a is an edge view of the same;

FIGURE 2 is a view similar to FIG. 1 showing a modification;

FIGURE 2a is an edge view of the same;

FIGURE 3 is a section on the line 3-3, FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a section on the line 4--4, FIGURE 1, on an enlarged scale;

FIGURE 5 is a perspective fragmentary view of the invention.

In the drawings, 1 designates a strip of thin flexible sized wet strength paper having a thin superficial wax coating 2 upon both sides thereof, said strip having a soft cushioned brush edge 3 extending along it as a border, and the ibers of which are laterally bent at 4 so that it is of greater thickness than that of the body of the paper, the marginal portion of said strip having a series of V- 3,141,466 Patented July Z1, 1964 ICC form notches 5 extending below the brush edge into the body of the paper, said notches having each angularly related edges 6 tending upon edgewise movement of said strip to abut against the roots of said bers and bend said iibers to upright position, thereby facilitating the insertion of said brush edge between adjacent teeth and against the gums, said brush edge being longitudinally continuous between said notches.

In the use of the dental cleaner, one of the notches 5 of the paper strip is engaged between adjacent teeth and the paper strip moved edgewise, the roots of the paper fibers of the brush edge will be caused to abut against adjacent edges of said teeth and be thereby bent into upright position into parallel relationship, for insertion between adjacent teeth and against the gums.

In order to provide said paper with the brush edge, the paper may be sawed or alternatively abraded by any suitable means. The Wax coating 2 may be omitted upon the opposite sides of the brush edge as shown in FIG- URE 5.

The brush edge of the paper may serve as a carrier for a ilavoring agent or/ and an antiseptic agent.

The notches 5 may be close together, as in FIGURE 2, or they may be spaced widely apart as in FIGURE l.

Any suitable wax or Wax equivalent may be used. In practice, paran wax is used.

I claim:

1. A dental cleaner, comprising a strip of thin exible sized Wet strength paper having a soft cushioned brush edge extending along one edge thereof, the paper fibers of said brush edge being bent laterally at each side so that it is of greater thickness than that of the body of the paper, said strip being provided at intervals with shallow V-form notches extending below the brush edge into the body of the paper, said brush edge being longitudinally continuous between said notches, said notches being each engageable between adjacent teeth, said strip being thereupon movable edgewise to cause the roots of the paper bers of the brush edge to abut against the adjacent edges of said teeth and be thereby bent into upright position into parallel relationship for insertion between adjacent teeth and against the gums.

2. A dental cleaner as defined in claim 1, in which the paper is provided with a thin supercial wax coating at each side thereof.

References Cited in the iile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 725,081 Hi11s Apr. 14, 1903 792,471 Smith June 13, 1905 2,548,255 Cressler Apr. 10, 1951 2,856,938 Fleming Oct. 21, 1958 

1. A DENTAL CLEANER, COMPRISING A STRIP OF THIN FLEXIBLE SIZED WET STRENGTH PAPER HAVING A SOFT CUSHIONED BRUSH EDGE EXTENDING ALONG ONE EDGE THEREOF, THE PAPER FIBERS OF SAID BRUSH EDGE BEING BENT LATERALLY AT EACH SIDE SO THAT IT IS OF GREATER THICKNESS THAN THAT OF THE BODY OF THE PAPER, SAID STRIP BEING PROVIDED AT INTERVALS WITH SHALLOW V-FORM NOTCHES EXTENDING BELOW THE BRUSH EDGE INTO THE BODY OF THE PAPER, SAID BRUSH EDGE BEING LONGITUDINALLY CONTINUOUS BETWEEN SAID NOTCHES, SAID NOTCHES BEING EACH ENGAGEABLE BETWEEN ADJACENT TEETH, SAID STRIP BEING THEREUPON MOVABLE EDGEWISE TO CAUSE THE ROOTS OF THE PAPER FIBERS OF THE BRUSH EDGE TO ABUT AGAINST THE ADJACENT EDGES OF SAID TEETH AND BE THEREBY BENT INTO UPRIGHT POSITION INTO PARALLEL RELATIONSHIP FOR INSERTION BETWEEN ADJACENT TEETH AND AGAINST THE GUMS. 